Everyone in the family thought he was going through the formalities for changing jobs, so they told him to go and return quickly. Old Lady Han also called him in and brainwashed him again. If she wanted him to change jobs and come back, he had to remember to bring the money to her home first, otherwise it would be unfilial.
Han Qingsong just listened to her, angering the old lady with his lack of response.
Han Qingsong asked his eldest brother to help take care of Lin Lan and the children. He also entrusted him to look after things at home.
The eldest brother said, “Don’t worry, there’s me and father here at home. Plus, sister-in-law can take care of the family well, so there’s not going to be a problem.”
Han Qingsong said goodbye and walked to the county to take the train.
He had a military certificate, so? he could buy train tickets at any time. However, the train was only scheduled to depart at noon, so he had no choice but to wait.
Remembering Lin Lan saying that Dawang went to the county town again, he left his luggage at the train station and walked to town.
Han Jinbao and Han Jinyu attended school here and the old lady frequently sent Dawang to send letters and items to his uncle. Once Dawang started coming to the county, he followed the youngest uncle around and refused to go home.
Han Qingsong also learned a lot about the situation here in the past few days. Erwang and Maisui have told him a lot about what he needed to know.
Therefore, he has already understood the behaviour of his youngest siblings.
Han Jinbao didn’t go to school with a serious attitude. He rode a bicycle all day, wore a green military uniform and a military cap, practically looking like a second-class gangster in the city. He hung out with a group of children from small cadres, either to fool around with female classmates or mess with other people.
Han Jinyu was not that well-behaved either. When she was elevated to junior high school from elementary school, she was into games. After classes resumed, she went straight to high school. Back then, schools didn’t take college entrance exams, so she was able to engage in a bunch of different activities. Hence, many people graduate from high school but in reality, they only retained the knowledge they had in elementary school.
Because of the education reform, there was no need to take entrance exams for junior high schools and senior high schools. Six years of study were simplified into three years, so the students were mostly fools who had no ideals.
At this time, junior high school and high school students in big cities all went to the mountains to go to the countryside, where they could make great achievements in that part of the vast world.
With good luck, a few units in the county might also recruit workers, but there was too much force and too little demand. Hence, it came down to connections and ties for a proper job.
The Han siblings should have gone home to continue farming a long time ago, but they always wanted to stay in the county and enter the factories, but they never had the chance to do so.
So, they spend money to sustain relationships and stay in school. They were going to wait to be able to work in factories, supply and marketing cooperatives, state-run restaurants and other units.
The boys and girls of the 16th or 17th year will naturally have troubles after a long time. Han Jinyu wanted to marry a cadre, driver or a worker. Han Jinbao on the other hand, wanted to join the factory forces, but he didn’t mind joining the army if nothing else went to plan.